LAHORE, JUL 17: Voting is underway on Sunday for by-elections in 20 constituencies of Punjab and will continue till 5 pm. Rangers and FC personnel have been deployed by the authorities in these constituencies to maintain law and order situation.

While the Pakistan Army personnel will perform duty at sensitive polling stations, returning and presiding officers have been assigned the powers of magistrates.

It is pertinent to mention that the 20 seats fell vacant after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) “de-seated” 25 PTI dissident lawmakers on May 23 for voting against PML-N’s Hamza Shahbaz in the Punjab chief minister’s election. Which included five lawmakers elected on reserved seats for women and minorities.

Election Campaign 

The election campaign ended at 12am Saturday in line with the polling rules, with PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and PTI Chairman Imran Khan campaigning vigorously for their parties.

Canvassing for the by-polls ended on Friday midnight with both the PML-N and PTI urging their workers to put their energies into bringing out voters from their homes on the polling day on Sunday. But while the senior leadership of both rival parties held huge public rallies in pretty much all 20 constituencies, conventional door-to-door campaigns and corner meetings of workers, especially of the PML-N, to engage voters were conspicuous by their absence in the four constituencies of the capital of Punjab.

During the campaign, Khan reiterated his claims of a foreign conspiracy that led to his government’s ouster and asked his supporters to ensure that in the by-polls, the “thieves and corrupt” do not win.

On the other hand PML-N circles defended the party’s new narrative, saying the previous slogan was aimed at the powers that be. “Since the establishment is on good terms with us again, we no longer need this narrative and have replaced it with ‘Khidmat ko vote do’, which has a political appeal, considering our past record of serving people.”

Constituencies

By-elections will be held in 20 constituencies of Punjab Assembly including PP-7 Rawalpindi, PP-83 Khushab, PP-90 Bhakkar, PP-97 Faisalabad; PP-125, PP-127 Jhang, PP-140 Sheikhupura,PP-158, 167,168,170 Lahore;PP-167, Lahore, PP-202 Sahiwa,; PP-217 Multan, PP-224 Lodhran, PP-228 Lodhran, PP-237 Bahawalnagar, PP-272,273 Muzaffargarh,PP-282 Layyah and PP-288 Dera Ghazi Khan.

Political pundits are expecting a tough contest between PML-N and PTI in the by-polls as a majority of the 20 defecting PTI MPAs have hitched their wagons to the PML-N.

The PTI and the PML-N have around the same number of seats in the Punjab Assembly, but if either of the parties takes a major lead in the by-polls, it can form the next government easily as the elections for the chief minister are also slated for July 22.

ECP preparations

The ECP has completed preparations for the by-polls and a total of 4.57 million registered voters, including 2.46 million women, are eligible to vote in the by-polls.

A total of 3140 polling stations, including 731 male, 700 female and 1700 combined polling stations have been established across the 20 constituencies.

A total of 9,562 polling booths have been set up for the by-polls. The ECP has declared 1204 polling stations sensitive and 696 highly sensitive.

Polling stations from Lahore and Multan have also been declared sensitive.

Provincial Election Commissioner Saeed Gul has said that the Election Commission is completely neutral and there is no truth in the allegations, they are working according to the Constitution and the law.

Punjab Assembly numbers game

The Punjab Assembly has a total of 371 members, of which 20 seats are vacant at the moment, bringing the total number of MPAs in the Punjab Assembly down to 351.

The PML-N has 163 members. On the other side is the Opposition, therefore the PTI, which is 163 MPAs strong at the moment.

In the house, there are five independents, of which Chaudhry Nisar, the former interior minister, is unlikely to vote. While the PPP has 7 MPAs, PML-Q has 10, and the Rah-e-Haq party has one.

As per the rules of the Punjab Assembly, the chief minister is elected with a simple majority, therefore 186 votes out of the 371-seat assembly.